Easy Frozen Peanut Butter & Chocolate Dessert Bars

Easy Frozen Peanut Butter & Chocolate Dessert Bars

If you love Reese’s peanut butter cups, you’ll love this easy and no-bake dessert!

I saw the original recipe to this years ago on a local news spot that featured (the now late) Art Ginsburg (aka “Mr Food”).

I liked the idea of this but NOT that I had to buy so much cream and whip it no less. I honestly HATE making real whipped cream these days because this ultra-pasteurized stuff does NOT hold up and commercial stabilizers don’t work with anything ultra pasteurized.  I’d love to know where to find genuine “heavy cream” which is 40% butterfat…FYI, “heavy whipping cream” is not the same thing, and to find stuff that’s not ultra pasteurized.  But since that seems to be impossible nowadays, I’ve discovered the wonder of Cool Whip.

Dive right in

Whipped topping makes life much easier.  OK, it’s a trade-off because it’s not real dairy and it’s not what I call “natural,” but the pros outweigh the cons on using it for convenience sake. But I do insist on using the extra-creamy variety since it does taste somewhat like the real thing.  The regular doesn’t to me and forget fat-free; I won’t touch that.

Anyway, this dessert is totally easy to do and it tastes delicious.  I made this in a 11 x7 pan but I was a bit sorry that I didn’t use 9 x 9 because the filling would have been higher and looked better.  However, the taste is the same whatever you do and this is wonderful!  This is all gone–eaten entirely by 2 teenaged girls and 3 pre-teen boys. There isn’t a crumb left and that tells you how good this one is!

So easy, you’ll make them often

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Easy Frozen Peanut Butter & Chocolate Dessert Bars

If you love Reese’s peanut butter cups, you’ll love this easy and no-bake dessert!

Prep Time4 hrs

Total Time4 hrs

Course: desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate, dessert bars, peanut butter bars

Servings: 12

Calories: 337kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

BASE

• 3 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
• 6 tbs unsalted butter melted

FILLING

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 8 oz extra-creamy whipped topping

Instructions

• Crush cookies by processing until very fine in a food processor or Ninja (Ninja is better). If you don't have these appliances, place cookies in a plastic zipper-seal bag and use a rolling pin to crush. It will take about 30 cookies to make 3 cups of crumbs.
• Place crumbs in a bowl and drizzle melted butter over them. Mix until all cookies are coated with butter.
• Place crumbs in a 11 x 7-inch rectangular pan (you can use 9 x 9-inch--freezing time will be extended though. I used 11 x 7). Distribute crumbs evenly in the pan and press down to form a crust. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, with electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and the heavy cream until well blended. Add the whipped topping and beat until very well blended.
• Turn peanut butter mixture into pan with crumbs. Even out the mixture across the pan.
• Place in freezer and allow to freeze at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. The smaller pan would require 5-6 hours freezing.
• Remove from freezer and allow dessert to sit for 10 minutes. Cut into squares. Top with additional whipped topping, chopped peanut & caramel candy bars and chocolate ganache if desired. For the ganache, microwave 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 2 tbs heavy cream for 30 seconds. Stir until no lumps remain. For thinner ganache, add a bit more cream.
• Serves 12

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Calories: 337kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 234mg | Potassium: 172mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 342IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

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